UHV student advances AI for energy solutions

For international student Aradhana Sharma, her journey at the University of Houston-Victoria has been nothing short of transformational.
As a graduate student in computer information systems, Sharma has not only excelled academically but has made a significant contribution through her research and internships focused on environmental sustainability.
Hailing from India, Sharma completed her undergraduate degree in computer science at University of Delhi before making the move to the U.S. to pursue her master’s degree. It was her deep-rooted passion for the environment and AI that drew her to the university’s programs, which offered the perfect blend of technology and opportunities for AI-driven innovation to directly contribute to environmental solutions, she said.
“We look around, and things are changing so much with global warming and environmental pollution,” Sharma said. “The weather has been messed up with pollution, but we can all do our part to help the environment in whichever way we can.”
Recently, Sharma was one of the recipients of the Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarship. The foundation has provided financial support to more than 235 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees globally. Beneficiaries of the foundation are known for their remarkable achievements and dedication to their fields of study and beyond.
“I was very excited when I found out the news,” Sharma said. “I was in India visiting family and it was pretty early in the morning when I saw that email, and I was thrilled.”
At UHV, Sharma also serves as a graduate research assistant at the Artificial Applied Intelligence Laboratory under the guidance of Hardik Gohel, director of the Master of Science in Data Science Program & Applied AI Research Lab. At her job, Sharma works to develop data science models and on environmental-related projects under Gohel.
“Aradhana Sharma is an exceptional graduate student in our Applied AI Lab, where she has been contributing since 2023 with impressive results,” Gohel said. “Notably, she was selected for a prestigious internship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Fall 2024, focusing on AI/Machine Learning applications in environmental remediation. This scholarship will enable her to fully participate and present her research work in Waste Management Symposia 2025, an international conference which centers on the theme of AI for waste management. Her accomplishments serve as an inspiration to other students at UHV.”
One of Sharma’s most notable accomplishments is her work on developing a hybrid model that aims to predict groundwater contamination. This research, which she plans to publish, will showcase Sharma’s ability to combine technical expertise with her environmental concerns, and will hopefully create tangible solutions to those issues, she said.
Sharma’s passion for the environment has also led her to seek out additional opportunities beyond the classroom. During the fall 2024 semester, she was selected as a data science intern at the prestigious Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she worked to help drive data-driven decision making and developed data visualization tools.
As she prepares to graduate this spring, Sharma said she is planning to channel her experience and route it into her passion for the environment. She plans to continue researching to explore ways to leverage data science and environmental modeling to drive meaningful change, she said.
“It has been a wonderful and personally transformative experience,” Aradhana said. “The culture, the diversity – everything at UHV has been incredible. Being away from your home country can be challenging, but the welcoming environment and helpfulness of everyone here have made it so much easier.”
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.